Steve Atlas, a retired writer and composer, has been a fan of old-time radio since the mid-1970s when he first heard Jack Benny and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar on The Big Broadcast: WAMU's weekly program devoted to old time radio. Since then, his interest in old time radio (OTR) has expanded to include westerns (Have Gun Will Travel, Six Shooter, Gunsmoke), music of all types, detective and lawyer programs (Defense Attorney and Dragnet are two favorites), comedy (Our Miss Brooks, Life of Riley are just a few), and many other types of OTR. Since discovering otrcat.com, Steve has enjoyed being able to purchase complete OTR series and is able to share the joy of OTR with many friends and family members. For Steve and his wife Karen, a typical Sunday night is spent playing 500 rummy and listening to one or more favorite OTR programs.
Steve has found that, aside from deciding what programs to buy, one of the biggest challenges is choosing a program, year and individual show that each of us can enjoy. It’s almost like going into a store to buy a favorite book, but then seeing so many good books that we leave without buying anything. That is the reason for his monthly column "Fans from a Fellow OTR Fan" in which Steve talks about some of his favorite OTR programs and encourages other OTR fans to share their favorites with him and us.
When not enjoying OTR, Steve enjoys composing tuneful light classical and folk music for solo instruments, voice, and piano. He is the author of two published books about single parenting. His monthly column, "Car Free Journey" (in which Steve features cities and vacation destinations throughout the United States and Canada that we can enjoy visiting without needing to drive) can still be found on the Internet.
Tips from a Fellow OTR Fan: